Suite Seventeen (Black Lace) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Portia writes sex for connoisseurs of quality erotica' EWRA"

Product Description

When vibrant, forty-something widow Annie Conroy spies her new neighbours having kinky sex in their back garden, she decides it's time that she too woke up and smelt the erotic roses. And where better to begin her daring adventures than the luxurious Waverley Grange Country Hotel, and its hidden den of iniquity: the chintz-clad but wickedly pervy Suite Seventeen? Under the stern but playful eye of exotic master Valentino, Annie quickly discovers the shocking hidden depths of her own sensuality, and surrenders herself body and soul to his outrageous games of power. But when the Waverley's entire future hangs in the balance, and Annie has the means to help save it, dare she gamble on going one step further...and giving her heart to the mysterious man who's come to control her?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Virgin Black Lace (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0352341092
• ISBN-13: 978-0352341099
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #898,614 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My Review of Suite Seventeen, August 11, 2009

By	vdoluvr (United States) - See all my reviews

This is a sexy sordid frolic into a realm most of us will never know where a tentative widow, Annie Conroy tiptoes into her staid middle years facing life alone. She doesn't seem to see her own genuine beauty or the potential left in life and she starts by playing it safe as she would have in her past. She soon immerses herself in the steamy underworld of a clandestine hotel room where there are few limits and even fewer rules. Like her former life, the hotel room seems ordinary but lurking beneath is the potential for explosive fun and for reaching the heights of ecstasy never even imagined before. All she's ever known is turned upside down when luck and lust bring her a ravishing Latin lover, the mysterious enigmatic Valentino. Like the imitable "Entertaining Mr. Stone," this book too is inspired by the acting of the gorgeous Vincent D'onofrio but the literary Valentino morphs into his own complex, caring and deeply feeling man who looks like a movie star but dominates Annie like a stallion. She quickly submits to him only because from the beginning of their entanglement there is the promise of real love there as well. The romantic antics of Maria Lewis and Robert Stone continue deliciously as ever-randy neighbors who help Annie along in the rediscovery of her long-squelched potential and the ardent love between them gives her both the longing and foreshadowing of her future with the all-consuming Valentino. Her surrender to him in bed is because he's worthy in every other way and it's for their mutual fun while true love percolates beneath. True, total sexual submission is not for everyone and but in the safe world of literary fantasy we can have the empowerment that erotic surrender brings with the right loving partner. Final note, a brief but satisfying sweet glimpse into the lives
of Annie and Valentino and Mr. Stone and Maria is provided in yet another fine Portia Da Costa work entitled "In Too Deep."

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I liked it because it was different. However, Anne was a little too submissive for my taste., February 11, 2008

By	Jane Stewart (Illinois USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I had a hard time deciding between 3 and 4 stars. I am glad that I read it, but the emotions were a little too difficult for me. There is a lot of erotic, kinky sex between a middle-aged woman and a georgous Italian man, who is 12 years younger. For much of the book, I felt uneasy and insecure. It reminded me of feelings a woman has when desperately attracted to someone who is gorgeous, desireable and unattainable. A man who would never be interested in someone like her.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
The story is told in the first person by Anne, a recently widowed woman in her mid 40s. She visits the Waverly hotel to meet someone who does not show. While waiting there, she is mezmerized by a georgous man dressed as a woman. He calls himself Valentina. They speak briefly and Anne is drawn to him. As she is waiting for a taxi to go home, she sees Valentina dressed in jeans with no shirt, walking into the nearby woods, now calling himself Valentino. She follows him. They have sex in the woods. The next night, she returns to the same hotel for dinner with her investment advisor Charles. Valentina is there again dressed as a woman and tells Anne she should have sex with Charles in a room with cameras. Some other oddities occur during that night with Valentino as well. The next day Anne returns to the hotel to discuss her bill and has another encounter with Valentino, who is dressed in a business suit, wearing glasses and going by the name Signor Guidetti, the hotel manager.

The insecure feeling occurs because Valentino has never asked Anne out or initiated their meetings. Anne is the one going to him each day. He responds with kinky sex, but she doesn't know if he likes her, wants her or what he thinks about her. Anne feels like a lovestruck teenager and fears she's making an idiot out of herself.

An example of how submissive Anne was follows. This was about their fourth time together. When they first entered the bedroom, she bent down and kissed his shoe and stayed in that position until he told her to get up. He had never previously told her to do this.

I regret that the author did not answer two questions. (1) Maria (Anne's neighbor and friend) had certain connections to the hotel and always knew when Anne would be there, but the reader does not know how she knew. Maria also knew other things about the hotel that were never told to the reader. (2) What was the dollar amount Anne had available to invest and what was the dollar amount that Valentino received for his Ferrari?

DATA:
Story length: 257 pages. Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: more than eighteen. Setting: current day England. Copyright: 2007. Genre: erotic contemporary romance.

OTHER BOOKS:
To date, I've read one other book by Portia Da Costa. My 3.5 star review of Entertaining Mr. Stone Copyright 2006 was posted 5/25/09.